Blackie & The Rodeo Kings "I'm Still Loving You"

There are some people, I believe, that you are just destined to meet. In the late 90s, living in Nashville, I haunted the clubs; Exit/In, 12th and Porter, 3rd and Lindsley, making the rounds to immerse myself in the most imaginative and celestial music the era and the city had to offer. And there were fellow travelers, ones with whom I shared many an evening, though in many cases I didn’t know their names, I just recognized them from their attendance at the same shows as me all the time. Some emerged out of the mist of anonymity. One was Colin Linden. I would see him in his Amish style hat and we would greet each other by the glint of an eye, of being a fellow traveler. After months of finding ourselves in the same spaces so often, we finally introduced ourselves and started getting to know each other. And through the years since, I have watched with glee as Colin plied his abundant craft. There are his solo projects, others that he produced, and then there is the entity Blackie & The Rodeo Kings.

Photo Credit: Bob Lanois

The band, Tom Wilson, Stephen Fearing and Colin Linden, formed in Ontario, Canada fifteen years ago. They spent the last two years or so working on an album they had been thinking about for way longer, Kings and Queens, on which they have lots of well-respected folks contributing. Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Pam Tillis, Serena Ryder, Lucinda Williams, Cassandra Wilson, Amy Helm, Janiva Magness, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Sam Phillips, Sara Watkins, Exene Cervenka, Patti Scialfa and Holly Cole. It was a very satisfying exercise indeed. I saw the trio in Boulder, Colorado this August and made my plans to get them before the Music Fog cameras in Nashville, during the Americana Music Festival. They brought their Nudie suits (Manuel, actually) and Bryan Owings and John Dymond along to play.

- Jessie Scott

Soggy Bottom Boys "In the Jailhouse Now"

So allow me to wax nostalgic, as it was ten years ago that the O Brother phenom occurred. The movie, the soundtrack, the galvanization around the roots music presented within, the race to the top of the charts, the sales story, and arguably, a whole new generation of artists coming to the fore by the seeds that were planted with its success. It has been a hell of a ten years, and to mark the occasion, there is a new double-disc commemorative O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack album out, with bonus tracks, of course. No Depression did a listener generated comprehensive interview with maestro T Bone Burnett, who became a brand himself through this and his other landmark efforts that have followed over this last decade.

When the Coen brothers' film O Brother, Where Art Thou? was released in 2001, Americana music was redefined through the legendary soundtrack that featured songs like "Man of Constant Sorrow." Now, to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the film and soundtrack, the Soggy Bottom Boys return with a music video for "In the Jailhouse Now." And everything old is new again.

- Jessie Scott

Sunday Valley "I Wonder"

Busy, busy, busy! This time of year in Texas the weather is still warm enough to do outdoor events. Saturday, I rode out to the town of Bee Cave to The Backyard for the First Annual LaGrange Fest, with ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jamey Johnson, and Corey Taylor of Slipknot. A portion of every ticket sold was donated to the Texas Wildfire Relief Fund as well as Lake Travis Fire Rescue and Bastrop Fire Department, as support to those who lost everything and the firefighters who are risking their lives to battle the worst wildfire season in Texas history. There is another benefit at The Backyard this Friday night, with Bob Schneider and friends. It is still relentlessly sunny here, not enough rain, but at least it is not in the triple digits. We are still praying for rain.

We're back from Americana Fest, with the first of 32 artists to share with you. Sunday Valley is one of a new crop of bands that we recorded. They were all different sonically from each other; but each brings an integral part of the roots music scene. Sunday Valley’s music has been called Cow Punk and Bluegrass Rock. Whatever you call it, it will propel you. Their first album is To the Wind and On to Heaven. It WILL rock your world. Here is a taste, with pictures even! It’s the Music Fog Fall Marathon recording of “I Wonder,” filmed at Marathon Recorders. And you may notice, with this first video from our Nashville sessions, that we've upgraded to high definition cameras. Now the Music Fog "look" is even more spectacular!

- Jessie Scott